Teach the Children

My senior year in high school I was the co-editor of our school’s yearbook. Our advisor was a chain-smoking young English teacher named Mrs. Mullen known to all of us in the yearbook office simply as “Mullen.” Two years earlier, I’d shown Mullen a short story I’d written and she’d suggested I make up the stories and let other people write them.

But all was forgiven now, and I was hard at work learning how to layout the yearbook’s many different sections. I had no ambitions that included this sort of graphic design – despite Mullen’s earlier ideas about my career, I still intended to be a writer – but I wanted to do a good job. One afternoon in early October, I brought her my first draft, which, it being 1982, I’d drawn with a pencil and ruler on the thick, 3-layer graph paper we used.

Mullen took one look at my efforts and grabbed a pen. “This is all wrong. It’s too square the way you’ve laid it out and there’s not enough space.” She began crossing out some of my boxes for photos and putting in new ones. “You have to let people’s eyes move. This is just all wrong.”

Something in me snapped. Maybe I was done with high school, maybe I was still remembering her comments about my story, but before I could stop myself, I was talking back. “Well, I don’t fucking know, Mullen. I’ve never done this before, okay? I’ve never done it so how am I supposed to know how to do it? Aren’t you a teacher? That’s your job, right? Well, teach me. Why don’t you try that instead of just criticizing?”

Mullen jumped in her seat. I had acquired the nickname Dudley Do-Right in the Yearbook Office for a reason, and it wasn’t for rants like that.

“I’m sorry, Billy. Of course. It’s okay. Jeez. Where’d that come from?”

I didn’t know, but I had the feeling I needed to find out where it came from and spend more time there. It felt like it was the first honest thing I’d ever said in that school.

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence.
You can find William at: williamkenower.com